DX11: Unigine Heaven 2.1

The Unigine Heaven 2.1 benchmark is a free publicly available tool that grants the power to unleash the graphics capabilities in DirectX-11 for Windows 7 or updated Vista Operating Systems. It reveals the enchanting magic of floating islands with a tiny village hidden in the cloudy skies. With the interactive mode, emerging experience of exploring the intricate world is within reach. Through its advanced renderer, Unigine is one of the first to set precedence in showcasing the art assets with tessellation, bringing compelling visual finesse, utilizing the technology to the full extend and exhibiting the possibilities of enriching 3D gaming.

The distinguishing feature in the Unigine Heaven benchmark is a hardware tessellation that is a scalable technology aimed for automatic subdivision of polygons into smaller and finer pieces, so that developers can gain a more detailed look of their games almost free of charge in terms of performance. Thanks to this procedure, the elaboration of the rendered image finally approaches the boundary of veridical visual perception: the virtual reality transcends conjured by your hand.

Although Heaven-2.1 was recently released and used for our DirectX-11 tests, the benchmark results were extremely close to those obtained with Heaven-1.0 testing. Since only DX11-compliant video cards will properly test on the Heaven benchmark, only those products that meet the requirements have been included.

So, 9" for the card - how much do the PCI-E connectors add to the length? And is this going to run on a 450W PSU?

Been holding out on my Sandy Bridge Mini-ITX system until this card shows up, and I'm set on using the Sugo SG05-450. If this card will fit and can be powered by the 450W Strider then it's going in, otherwise I'm going GTX 460 instead.

I`m lookin @ this card for a same build as you do(SG06-450(looks better than SG05 (i think))).There are also manufacturers with custom build coolers and pcb`s that put the PCI-E connectors on the side.I know Asus, MSI and Gigabyte do. They should fit in these cases.All reference cards have the PCI-E connectors facing rearwardsAs for the power caracteristics Nvidia advises a 500watt minimum.But the high quality 450watt 80plus bronse powersupply fitted in these cases should be easy enough for these cards.

It depends on the PSU brand, but I think that adding one more inch would be a safe consideration. As for your PSU, it's difficult to say if 450W will be enough because I have no idea what else you're running. Besides, the review has already stated NVIDIA's recommendation for a 500W PSU.

I did see NVIDIA's recommendation which is why I asked the question - recommendations generally are higher than actual requirements to give the manufacturer some breathing space if a user tries to run their kit to the wire.

Does that Silverstone Strider ST45SF 450W PSU have dual PCI-E connections? It should be enough wattage overall, but I wouldn't suggest using a Molex-to-PCIe adapter... it might overload the PCI-E rail.

Just have to wait for card and motherboard availability now. Hopefully the Kuhler won't be long either so I can get some benches on that. Antec's promo video wasn't too impressive (4.2GHz 980X averaging 83 degrees at 100% load is NOT cool), but it's not like Sandy Bridge is all that toasty.

There was a Sugo SG05 build that crammed in a GTX 280 a few years back. Although Silverstone state that the SG05 can take 9" cards, there's a bit of extra space (half inch I think) between the chassis and the front panel if you dremel out a hole and he put his PCI-E cables in that space.

I may do that if push comes to shove, but I'll hang on for a bit to see if Palit/Gainward do a shorter version like they did with the GTX 460, or wait for more GTX 560s to hit the shelves and see who puts the connectors on the top/side.

As an aside, I don't like the front of the SG06 - I love the aluminium face and having the fan inlets on the side, but bending back in for the optical drive just gives is a stupid bump IMO - what was wrong with a perfectly flat front? Just scootch the optical drive forward a bit and you're done.

Depending on how crazy I feel, I may get the SG05 front panel duplicated in brushed aluminium lol

I have a question about the wattage issue for SLI. Currently i have an 850W Antec TPQ-850. I have my CPU (i7 930) OC'd to 4.01GHz @ 1.27V. My RAM is at 1526mhz @ 1.64V and QPI/DRAM voltage @ 1.37v. Now if i were to upgrade to the GTX 560 SLI. Would i have to replace my PSU to a stronger wattage? Currently i have 2 250 GTS's in SLI.

It might be close, but I think you'll be okay with two 560's in SLI. If you decide to go forward on this plan, come back and let us know how it worked. This will help others who are thinking of the same thing.

Alright. Well i might not be the first one. They just came out yesterday and I'm playing for a ski trip to vermont and 2 guitars so i might be a couple months before i get them :p Someone mind get them before me.

First of all, m not native english but i will try my best to convey what i percieve after reading this review. .. . . In this review I found GTX560 winning the race in most of the benchmarks against HD 6950 but on other reviewing sites i find HD 6950 to be equally comparable with GTX560. I dont know the reason why ... and secondly in this review HD6950 used was of 2GB version while there is a cheaper 1 GB version also available in the market.Resolutions used in the tests were favorable to 1GB framebuffer. 2 GB is goin to benefit if u are playing at higher resolutions or at tripple monitor setup ... so my point is when talkin abt pricing why didnt the cheaper version mentione ...